This article, explores techniques for handling two of the most common data formats used on the Internet — XML and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)— on the Android platform. Learn the basics of XML and JSON and how to build an Android application that parses and displays a Twitter status-update in both formats.

Java language is the tool of choice for Android developers. The Android runtime uses its own virtual machine, Dalvik, which is not the usual Java virtual machine that most Java developers are used to. In this article you will learn advanced Java features and how they are implemented on Android. This includes features such as concurrency, networking, and database access.

Many of your Android apps will need to interact with Internet data, which comes in a variety of formats. In this article, build an Android app that works with popular data formats — XML and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON, as well as the more exotic protocol buffers format from Google. You’ll learn about the performance and coding trade-offs associated with each format.